Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

Read more

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

NOTE: This article is part of an ongoing series of multi-day inn-to-inn hikes through the Cotswolds of England. You can read the other posts here (Matt’s why), here (Lisa’s why), here (day 1), and here (day 2).

Not gonna lie…the 6 mile walk from Stow-in-the-Wold to Bourton-on-the-Water (including Upper and Lower Slaughter), while lovely, couldn’t live up to the previous day. How could it? It was a very high bar. But the weather was terrific and the walk was pleasant and easy.

People we’d chatted with in passing had raved about the Slaughters. “Be sure to see the Slaughters!” “Oh, you’ll love the Slaughters!” We weren’t exactly sure why this was the sentiment until we got there. While we’d been hoping for incredible nature, the Slaughters were two stunningly built villages about a mile apart from each other, filled with incredibly high-end, sprawling, luxurious homes built with the signature honey-colored Cotswold limestone. A river flowed through the area, adding more charm.

As minimalist nomads, giant mansions that were probably filled with unwieldy antique furniture and bric-a-brac are not really something we were striving to see on this nature-based trip. Nevertheless, these two neighborhoods are beautifully kept and full to the brim with charm. There are flowers and gardens everywhere. There’s even a ford.

There was a shady walking path between the two villages that was buzzing with people—the most we’d seen so far on a path.

And perhaps more importantly, we found a coffee kiosk (@lowerslaughtermill on Instagram) with excellent coffee and a great piece of carrot cake big enough to share.

The food truck guy invited me to come inside for a photo.

I was really enjoying finding coffee shops and food trucks along our walks to help break up the day.

A few miles later, when we emerged from the path into Bourton-on-the-Water, we were taken aback by the crowds of people. This was a popular place.

Maybe a little too popular. Tourism has jumped dramatically in recent years, and the downtown area is quite small, so visitors are packed together. We heard from a hotel staffer in another village that while the crowds are good for the local economy, some residents of Bourton-on-the-Water are understandably frustrated by them. It’s a prime example of the complicated benefit/detriment tension travel creates.

This is an issue we wrestle with as nomads. While overall we believe travel is typically a net positive for most places, we recognize our presence is a frustrating inconvenience for some. Wherever we go, we try to be intentional about showing kindness, gratitude, and respect for the local residents and community.

We grabbed lunch at our inn, The Dial House, and went to our room to rest and hide. The next morning we went out early to snap a few photos before the rush of visitors returned.

Our next destination was Winchcombe, more than 12 miles away, which was a little too far for our comfort level, considering the following day would be an 11-mile walk. Our tour company had set up a taxi service to take us to our starting spot, the village of Guiting Power about five miles away.

When the taxi driver didn’t show up, we called the cab company, who insisted the guy was there. Eventually we found him…apparently waiting in an unmarked car (except for a little sticker on the far side of the vehicle) several storefronts down the busy street. I’m not sure how he thought we’d find him.

He objected when Matt declined his offer to put our tiny backpack in the trunk because we wanted it in the back seat with us, complained about how hikers made his car dirty, then took us to a place that he insisted was the village of Guiting Power, but the sign in the parking lot said Cotswold Farm. There was no village in sight.

He prodded us to get out multiple times. We refused, and managed to pull up a map using the spotty cell service, showing we were 2.5 miles from our destination. We finally convinced him we were not in the right place. He was frustrated over being given the wrong address (not by us), but he took my phone to guide him and immediately turned the wrong way out of the parking lot. The map rerouted us down a narrow drive that had a sign in front, identical to this:

We were a mile down this narrow, winding road before we came to the reason it was unsuitable. Big holes, a water-filled ford. Our taxi driver refused to take his precious car that way. Honestly, I didn’t blame him, but he’d chosen to go down a super tight road that wasn’t meant for cars. There was no way to turn around. So now we had to back out.

He didn’t stop complaining, telling us he missed his next job because of this. I’d had about enough of his attitude and was tempted to get out and walk instead—after all, a few extra miles of walking would probably get us to Guiting Power faster than this taxi. But by now I just wanted to annoy him further because I am petty. We stayed put.

Finally, almost an hour after our scheduled pickup time, we reached the village of Guiting Power and quickly hopped out. Yes, I remembered to get my phone back from the guy. I know you were worried and I thank you for your empathy. It’s people like you who keep the world a nice place to be.

After a stop at “the village toilet” located in a church yard (a wonderful free amenity we’ve found in several villages), we gratefully started our walk. A large part of it was through the woods, which had an eerie, mist-like quality.

Obligatory lamb gallery:

Sheep droppings weren’t the only thing we had to dodge.

We had a few of these fun gates to climb over.

The countryside continued to wow us.

We went past Sudeley Castle…

and our destination of Winchcombe came into view. Can I just say how absolutely cool and satisfying it feels to walk from one village to the next? If you’ve never done such a thing, I highly encourage you to give it a try.

We found our way to The Lion Inn, which has six or seven rooms for rent above the pub, and hoisted our awaiting luggage (delivered from the last village by a transport service) up the stairs to our room and crashed for the evening.

Our next hike, from Winchcombe to Broadway, would be eleven miles—the longest hike I’ve ever done. Did we make it? Or did we wimp out? You just never know with us, but you can bet we’re going to tell you soon, so stick around!

Did you know? Lisa’s New York Times Bestselling THE UNWANTEDS magical fantasy series for ages 8 and up has sold nearly 2.5 million copies and won multiple state awards. Try book one, The Unwanteds, in hardcover, paperback, e-book, or audiobook.

Leave a comment

Share

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

Read more

Read more

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

NOTE: This article is part of an ongoing series of multi-day inn-to-inn hikes through the Cotswolds of England. You can read the other posts here (Matt’s why), here (day 1), and here (day 2).

Matt and I heard about inn-to-inn, a.k.a. thru-hikes, a year or two ago when our friend Kristi mentioned she was going to bike the 500-mile Camino Francés, staying in albergues and hotels along the way.

What’s an inn-to-inn hike?

It’s a multi-day hike from one village to the next, during which a hiker’s goal is to reach their lodging for the night on foot, stay overnight, then continue the journey to the next village in the morning. And repeat.

Our original plan was to walk the Camino Francés across northern Spain. But two reasons made us change our mind: doing the full 500 miles seemed daunting for our first try, and more importantly, we found out we were going to become grandparents and wanted to be near our daughter and her husband and baby throughout the spring. Starting the Camino in late May was out of the question heat-wise for me, so we’re postponing that trek for now.

Instead, over the course of nine days and about sixty-six miles, we’ll explore the hilly and much cooler English countryside by walking through villages and fields in the quaint, beautiful Cotswolds.

Matt and I have been hiking regularly together for a year. Training for the Cotswold Walk for a couple of months now. We studied the route and decided not to do the full 102-mile Cotswold Walk from Chipping Campden to Bath, England. Rather we’re going to focus on the northern portion of the Cotswolds, doing a circular route starting and ending in Moreton-in-Marsh, and adding in some loop trails within the circle so we can stay in few places for two nights and really soak in that section of the walk. We designed our tour to give us shorter walking days, from 4.5 to 11 miles per day.

I think we’re going to really appreciate those shorter days, because the villages offer much to explore. Not to mention we’ll be arriving after both being ill on our ship transit that will drop us off in Southampton, England. We’re not at our strongest physically, I’m afraid. But we’ll make the most of it.

I’ve hiked ten miles in a day once before, but that was on a fairly flat trail. I’ve walked eight miles a number of times. Seven? A bunch of times. But I’ve never done those days back to back to back, nine days in a row. I’m a little worried about it. What if I can’t do it? Or worse, what if I don’t like it?

It takes up a lot of our day to train our bodies to handle this kind of journey—some of the elevation gains will be hefty. And we’ve been starting to get burned out after all this mindless training with no actual destination. It feels like a chore. I don’t want to be feeling this way, but it is what it is. I do think that once we have daily destinations, the excitement and motivation will show up.

And, while Matt and I really like spending time together, we’ve been around each other nearly 24 / 7 for years now, and we’re starting to struggle to find things to talk about during long training walks. After over-analyzing the latest Survivor episode to the point of exhaustion, we’ve run out of conversation topics.

Why are we doing this again?

We asked ourselves this a few weeks ago as we slogged up a familiar hill, doing a 2-hour, 5 mile walk/hike in the neighborhood where we were pet-sitting that week. And again as we did another shorter walk later that day, trying to get that daily mileage up.

Matt gave you his reasons in a previous post. Now I’ll give you mine.

I’m doing it for a longer health-span. I’m doing it because we’re grandparents now, and I want to see our grandchild grow up and be an active part of her life. And maybe I’m doing it so I can wear nice clothes once in a while and feel and look good in them.

Okay, that last reason is a bit shallow, but if it’s motivating, why not? Especially after struggling for years with body image and health issues. Having a walking regimen helps keep me fit.

We want to be healthier, and training for this adventure was a good goal to keep us striving for something over the past months. And we also want to see cool things on foot—ones we can’t see from the window of a car. We’re doing it because we’re trying new things, and this one sounded fun.

We’re doing it so we can casually drop into conversations that we once stayed at a whimsical-sounding place called Mole End House in Stow-in-the-Wold.

But negative thoughts intrude. What if moving from one inn to the next on a daily basis feels too much like being on book tour, which is hard work? What if it’s pouring rain and muddy every day? What if I get blisters? What if there’s a heatwave? What if we hate it? What if, what if, what if?

The good news is that there is always a solution. If we don’t enjoy it, we can quit walking and take a cab to our next inn. Done and dusted.

But I think we’re going to like it.

We’ll update soon! The walk starts May 27. We hope you’ll follow along!

Did you know? Lisa’s New York Times Bestselling THE UNWANTEDS magical fantasy series for ages 8 and up has sold nearly 2.5 million copies and won multiple state awards. Try book one, The Unwanteds in hardcover, paperback, e-book, or audiobook.

Leave a comment

Share

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

Read more

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

I love monsters.

Always have. As a kid, I read every book in my elementary school library on Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, you name it. I was fascinated by these creatures of darkness, loving the idea that just maybe they could actually exist. It made the world wonderfully mysterious.

As an adult, my fascination with monsters is alive and well. When I decided to try to become a published author in my late forties, I wrote the kinds of thrilling monster stories I devoured growing up. After three books that earned only a long list of rejections, my breakthrough was a spooky monster mystery series called Monsterious, with titles like Escape from Grimstone Manor, The Snatcher of Raven Hollow, Terror in Shadow Canyon, The Beast of Skull Rock, and Trapped in the Horror Dome.

When director Peter Jackson of The Lord of the Rings movies fame rebooted King Kong in 2005, I was all in. The success of that film spawned a King Kong franchise without Jackson’s ongoing involvement. The subsequent movies, in my opinion, fall short of his film, but that didn’t stop me from lining up to see 2017’s Kong: Skull Island in the theater.

While I found the movie to be a disappointment, the real-world setting used for Kong’s domain was not. Huge, rounded rock formations thrust up from the sea like a weathered teeth. I’d never seen anything like it. Where was this fantastical place?

The location for these visually dramatic scenes was Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. Nine years after seeing the film, a cruise through Southeast Asia with my wife Lisa gave me the chance to see the magic for myself.

Did it live up to the Hollywood hype?

Absolutely!

Subscribe now

Ha Long Bay is a place of legends. Its name means “where the dragon descends into the sea.” Vietnamese mythology tells of the Jade Emperor calling on dragons to fend off an invading army. The dragons dropped gems on the sea-born enemy, and the aerial missiles became the bay’s 1900+ islands.

With our cruise ship anchored offshore, we tendered into town, then took a twenty-minute ride share to Tuan Chau Marina. There we hopped on a boat tour of the islands that we’d booked through GetYourGuide.com (almost always far cheaper than the cruise ship sponsored excursions).

Gliding among these limestone outcroppings was mesmerizing. Everywhere you looked gave a different perspective. It’s definitely one of those place where pictures do not do it justice.

Our first stop was Ti Top Island, where we climbed the hundreds of twisting steps to the summit’s lookout.

At our second stop, we hopped on a small boat that rowed us through the opening of Luon Cave to a hidden lagoon of dramatic proportions. A troop of Rhesus macaques monkeys made a surprising appearance.

Our final stop gave us a chance to explore Sung Sot Cave.

In my twenties, I once did several days of hard-core spelunking in Cave Valley, Indiana, the kind with headlamps strapped to hard hats, knee pads, and crawling through inky darkness while up to my neck in 55 degree F water. It gave me a deep appreciation for the underground wonders of caves (and a deep desire to never do that again!).

That said, I still enjoy friendly and accessible cave tours, and this one did not disappoint.

As the tour boat sailed slowly back to the marina, Lisa and I watched the sun set and reflected with our fellow travelers on the wonders of Ha Long Bay. It remains one of the most visually striking places we’ve encountered on our world travels.

What’s the most visually interesting place you’ve visited? We’re always looking for tips of new wonders to explore.

Leave a comment

Share

Did you know? Lisa’s New York Times Bestselling THE UNWANTEDS magical fantasy series for ages 8 and up has sold nearly 2.5 million copies and won multiple state awards. Try book one, The Unwanteds in hardcover, paperback, e-book, or audiobook.

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

Read more

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

NOTE: This article is part of an ongoing series of multi-day inn-to-inn hikes through the Cotswolds of England. You can read the other posts here (Lisa’s why), here (day 1), and here (day 2).

Okay, I’ll start by admitting the title of this article is misleading. It should say, “Why I’M Going to Hike the Cotswolds.”

My wife Lisa and I are going together, but she has her own reasons—keeping her body strong, trying inn-to-inn hiking, challenging herself, blah, blah, blah (Kidding! She’ll give her take in an upcoming post).

But I also have two very specific, very literary reasons for wanting to hike the Cotswolds of southwest England, a beautiful 800 square-mile National Landscape of rolling, sheep-covered hills and picturesque villages with cobblestone streets and houses of honey-colored stone.

I was a big reader as a kid. My parents were both well-read and always kept a large quantity of books on hand. I loved nothing more than curling up in the corner of our family room and being swept away to a remote island jungle teeming with danger, a haunted Gothic mansion, or a distant planet populated by strange creatures.

My passion was speculative fiction. My sister Holli got me hooked on fantasy by gifting me Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea trilogy one Christmas. Seeing the original Star Wars movie in 1977 at eight years old was my gateway to sci-fi. Mary Shelley’s masterpiece Frankenstein, which she unbelievably wrote at the age of nineteen, captivated my young mind and began a life-long love of horror stories.

My dad is a big C. S. Lewis fan and introduced me to the celebrated English author’s work early on. After devouring his seven-book Chronicles of Narnia series, I moved on to The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity. But it was Lewis’s lessor known adult Space Trilogy—Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength—that factors into this story.

The main character, the linguist Dr. Elwin Ransom, is kidnapped by a brilliant but morally questionable physicist, taken aboard his invented-in-secret spaceship, and delivered to a presumably fearsome race of beings on Mars.

So what does that have to do with the Cotswolds? Ransom was on a walking holiday through the beautiful rolling hills of the Cotswolds when he discovered the physicist’s isolated manor and became an unwitting player in the cosmic battle that unfolded over the series. Is it any wonder that location captivated my young imagination?

As an adult, I was gifted a book called Meeting God in Quiet Places: The Cotswold Parables by F. LaGard Smith. Smith spent six months of the year as a university professor in the US and the other six in a small cottage in the Cotswolds of England. Every day he would wander the sheep-speckled hills surrounding his quaint village and write about the spiritual insights he gained from his surroundings.

What kept me coming back to that book multiple times over the years was not only the spiritual content, but the descriptions of the lovely countryside, artfully captured by Glenda Rae’s delicate pencil sketches. I dreamed of one day strolling along those same windswept hills and cobblestone streets.

So when our nomadic travel planning research unearthed the existence of a 102 mile Cotswold Way, and a circular 66 mile inn-to-inn hike called The Best of the Cotswolds, guess how long it took me to convince Lisa it was a must-do? (It wasn’t hard—she was all for it!)

Our current pet-sitting stint in Arizona in the US wraps up soon. After a week in Michigan for us to visit family and for me to do some school author appearances, we take a three-week cruise from Miami to Southampton, England, stopping in Portugal, Spain, France, and Belgium along the way. A train will take us to Moreton-in-Marsh, our launching point for ten days of hiking the beautiful Cotswolds.

Will it live up to the magic in my head? Probably not. But I’m guessing we’ll find unexpected magic along the way. We can’t wait to share it with you.

Have you ever been to the Cotswolds? Any thoughts or tips to share? We’d love to hear about them in the comments.

Did you know? Lisa’s New York Times Bestselling THE UNWANTEDS magical fantasy series for ages 8 and up has sold nearly 2.5 million copies and won multiple state awards. Try book one, The Unwanteds in hardcover, paperback, e-book, or audiobook.

Leave a comment

Share

Read more

Thinking of Transitioning to Nomad Life?

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

Like Cash Back?

If you shop online and would like to earn a little cash back, Rakuten has a sweet Refer-a-Friend sign-up bonus right now. Use Lisa’s link to get $50 back after your first qualified purchase, or find another friend who can give you their link. This offer is good through June 30, 2026. Please note the link-giver also earns a bonus when you complete your purchase. Thank you very much if you decide to support our newsletter in this way!

I’d never seen anything like it.

Lisa and I had experienced the traffic in Bali, Indonesia, where the driving rules seemed more like suggestions and the multitude of scooter drivers weaved between cars like they were invincible.

But clinging to the back of a scooter on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam was an altogether different thing.

Let me back up. As is our custom on cruises, we’d checked out the tours available in Ho Chi Minh City in advance of our port stop. We typically peruse the excursions offered through the cruise line for ideas, but rarely book through the ship, as their prices are always much higher than you can find online at Get Your Guide, Tours By Locals, or Viator.

What caught our eye was a food tasting and sightseeing tour of Ho Chi Minh via scooter. While our go-to method for exploring a new place is on foot, we were intrigued by the varied food options and curious about the prospect of seeing the city through the eyes of a local on what is by far the preferred mode of transportation.

At least I was excited as well as nervous about the scooters. Lisa was less so, which is understandable when the tour description mentions you’re on your own for accident insurance. But, knowing this tour was coming up, she’d been watching the way scooters moved in previous stops on this cruise, and she’d grown to grudgingly admire the way the river of scooters flowed over the streets in a sort of organized chaos.

She also agreed that we should step out of our comfort zone, which frequent readers of Footnote will know is one of our goals.

It didn’t hurt that a private three-and-a-half hour tour with two driver guides and a 12-course street food and beverage tasting was $74 USD for both of us, including all the food and drinks.

We updated our will and set out on an adventure.

As the dock was in an industrial area where outside vehicles and walking weren’t permitted, we took the free oversized golf-cart shuttle from the ship to the immigration checkpoint building. After an incredibly strict immigration experience in Singapore, our previous port, we were shocked when the single seated employ casually waved us through without even asking for our passports.

Subscribe now

Making our way to the meeting point for our tour was an adventure in itself. We walked along a broken sidewalk that hugged a wide, busy road swarming with scooters. Hundreds of them were crammed together like schools of fish. They flowed around the occasional car, jostling for position, at times streaming up onto the sidewalk right in front of us. But drivers were respectful of pedestrians and careful not to come too close—they always left a few inches of clearance.

We soon learned that if we didn’t hesitate or make any sudden unexpected movements, the scooter drivers could anticipate our moves and we were relatively safe.

But carts, trash cans, parked scooters, and power poles often blocked our path, forcing us to wait for the smallest gap in the sea of oncoming scooters so we could skirt the obstacles via a terrifying dash into the street.

We finally reached the meeting point, a bit stressed and on-edge. And we hadn’t even gotten on a scooter yet! Our twenty-something driver guides Flower and Hannah greeted us warmly and assured us they would keep us safe. Something about the need for that statement made us feel worse about our prospects, but we weren’t about to turn back.

We donned our provided helmets and climbed on the back of their scooters. Moments later, we were off, gliding into the unending stream of traffic.

Then something magical happened. Our anxiety fell away. We were swept up in the thrill of the wild environment, this completely new experience, wholly dependent on these two young women, complete strangers. The wind in our faces, the sights of the city rushing by, and the crush of bodies all around us somehow relaxed us, and we sank into the unexpectedly joyful experience.

We learned something important: The scooters, not the cars, ruled the road.

Our first stop was at a small park on a busy street corner. We climbed off and were led to a statue of a seated monk flanked by a flame motif. While Flower stayed with the scooters, Hannah explained that in 1963, the government of South Vietnam passed discriminatory laws against anyone who practiced Buddhism, even though seventy percent of the population at the time was Buddhist. Protests spread across the country, including in Saigon.

Thích Quảng Đức, a Buddhist monk, fought for the reversal of these laws, but met with little success. Finally, he decided to hold the ultimate protest. With other monks tearfully standing by and police holding back the crowds, Thích Quảng Đức seated himself in the middle of the street, then calmly poured gasoline over his head and lit himself on fire.

Our guide took out her phone and showed us a famous photo capturing the tragedy. Her next words chilled us. “Now I will show you the video.”

With no chance to dissent, we watched in stupefied horror. As the flames consumed him, Thích Quảng Đức sat without moving and never utter a sound. After what felt like an eternity, he slowly sank to the ground.

His act of ultimate sacrifice galvanized the nation, contributing to a military coup a few months later. The laws were changed and the discrimination against Buddhists was lifted. The park and memorial statue were made in the famous monk’s honor.

The rest of the tour was of a much lighter and food-focused nature, and boy were we hungry after seeing that video! Luckily we had a nice terrifying ride to give us a chance to recover.

Hannah and Flower swept us away from the tourist areas to where locals live and eat. At an outdoor table we enjoyed a fabulous beef noodle soup with lemongrass broth, similar to pho. As someone who hates bananas, I was surprised to enjoy grilled bananas in coconut milk, a sweet and savory street food favorite.

We walked from the restaurant to an apartment building with exterior stairwells. A narrow ramp bisected the steps, allowing residents to ride their scooters up into their apartments to save the cost of street parking.

At our next stop, Hannah raised her arm and marched confidently into the sea of scooters to cross the street, urging us to stay close behind her. The scooters rushed around our little safety bubble as we made our way to a bánh mì stand. I don’t care for pickled foods, so I’ve never enjoyed the classic Vietnamese sandwich with pickled vegetables. Once again, I was surprised to love this dish—the bread was fresh and warm straight from the oven, the meat savory, and the vegetables bright and tangy.

Back on the scooters, we drove through a dizzying array of streets and around the biggest traffic circle I’ve ever seen, jammed with hundred of scooters. A minor fender bender occurred in front of us, the only collision we saw the entire trip. Uninjured and with no damage done, both drivers waved it off like it was nothing and continued on.

We arrived at a nighttime flower market, a grid of alleyways filled with an amazing variety of fresh, beautiful flowers and food stalls.

Our guide Flower led us to a child-sized plastic table with one-foot high stools in a side alley where Hannah waited with an array of delectable offerings—mini crispy pancakes stuffed with shrimp, BBQ beef with betel leaf and pineapple sauce wrapped in rice paper, fresh spring rolls, crunchy sweet banana crackers, salted egg custard, and caramel flan all washed down with fragrant and refreshing iced jasmine tea. It was a glorious meal.

Stuffed and happy, we drove through the night with the cool breeze in our faces, drinking in the captivating sights and bright lights of Ho Chi Minh City. The memory of that ride back to the ship is indelibly etched in my mind as one of the highlights of my world travels. We’d stepped outside of our comfort zones and had a rich, moving, and fascinating experience.

Have you ever been to Ho Chi Minh City or anywhere in Vietnam? What was your experience? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Subscribe now

Leave a comment

Share

Did you know? Lisa’s New York Times Bestselling THE UNWANTEDS magical fantasy series for ages 8 and up has sold nearly 2.5 million copies and won multiple state awards. Try book one, The Unwanteds, in hardcover, paperback, e-book, or audiobook from your preferred bookseller.

Thinking of Transitioning to Nomad Life?

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

It’s just one of those cities.

Paris. Bali. Rome. Hong Kong. The mention of any of them conjures an air of mystery, romance, otherworldliness.

Bangkok, Thailand, always held that same allure for me, so I was really looking forward to our port stop during our recent cruise of Southeast Asia. The city is about a two-hour drive from the port, and since we were docking overnight, Lisa and I made a rare choice to book a night ashore to give us more time. I know we just got done telling you that we don’t do these types of extra things on cruises…but we made an exception.

On a friend’s recommendation, we stayed at the Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort. Upscale but not cost-prohibitive (about $225 usd / night), modern, and inviting, with beautiful decor and a great staff. We could smell the flowers from the moment we stepped out of the car.

We were greeted with sweet tea and a hand-washing ceremony.

It took a guide to get to our room, as the resort has multiple levels and buildings on either side of a canal.

We spent the afternoon wandering the enchanting resort. Lisa spotted a giant monitor lizard swimming in the canal.

As evening approached, we got ready for the event I was really looking forward to—a two-hour dinner cruise on the Chaophraya River which runs through the city.

Subscribe now

After walking to the dock, located right on the resort grounds, we were given welcome drinks and snacks while waiting to board. A short introduction was given followed by a captivating traditional dance.

Soon we were led onto an old rice barge that had been converted into a river cruise ship serving a seven-course gourmet dinner of fresh takes on traditional Thai fare.

As the sun sank low on the horizon, the boat drifted along the river, past a wide variety of scenery. Ancient temples and palaces nestled among modern office buildings. Sleek shopping malls sat beside humble family dwellings. The visual feast rivaled the one on our plates.

As darkness fell, the buildings came alive with colored lights.

Back on shore at the resort, we followed the sound of music and caught the end of a stirring musical performance depicting stories from Thailand’s history.

The next morning, we enjoyed a fantastic buffet breakfast before taking the long drive back to the ship. On the way, I reflected on our experience in this global city. Was it what I expected?

Yes and no.

We’d seen a lot on the river cruise, but it felt like we’d barely scratched the surface. Bangkok is enormous. It would take a long time to see even a small fraction of all the city has to offer.

On one hand, the temples and palaces, the verdant greenery of the resort, and the delicious food all met or exceeded my expectations. On the other, the traffic was intense and the two-hour drive from the port was nothing to write home about. We didn’t really understand this city—and more importantly, we didn’t give it a proper chance from the vantage point of the cushy resort.

I’m certain there are pockets of Bangkok that have the vibes we’d like, but on this quick trip there wasn’t time to go searching for them. I wonder what other wonders we could uncover during a longer stay.

Have you been to Bangkok? Are there neighborhoods you really loved? If you haven’t been there, is it on your travel bucket list? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Leave a comment

Did you know? Lisa’s New York Times Bestselling THE UNWANTEDS magical fantasy series for ages 8 and up has sold nearly 2.5 million copies and won multiple state awards. Try book one, The Unwanteds in hardcover, paperback, e-book, or audiobook. https://www.lisamcmann.com/book/unwanteds/

Thinking of Transitioning to Nomad Life?

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

During an extended walk a few weeks ago, Matt and I had a spirited discussion about some of the things we’re willing to pay extra for in our nomadic travels. Good news—we agreed on much of it.

But we also recognized that many of our friends would not share the same values. That made us wonder: Are we weird?

So of course we put the question to you: Are we?

Subscribe now

While we have yet to find others who are exactly like us, we’ve met a few full-time travelers who value some of the same things we do. Whenever that happens, our conversation becomes animated as we share tips and tricks with each other.

But often people don’t see eye-to-eye with us, and that’s okay, too.

An interesting pattern emerged during that conversation between Matt and me. Across the board, the values we named were related to physical comfort.

There’s a sentence I learned from my high school German class flashcards that, until recently, I thought I would never use: Ich suche eine günstige unterkunft. I’m looking for affordable/suitable lodging. Now it’s the story of my nomad life.

I doubt you will ever find me sleeping in a tent. I’ve done it, I don’t like it, my back hurts and there are bugs and I can’t get to sleep and I’m not doing it anymore. If staying in a tent, or even in a hut with no running water, is the the only way to do a multi-day hike, I’m out.

As introverted writers who need a nest wherever we go, we like light, bright spaces, though it doesn’t matter how big they are. We love a studio apartment or a tiny home. But we recently booked a cheap studio Airbnb in Tahiti for two nights and it was dreary and not well-lit. We felt depressed being inside it. (In retrospect, we should’ve stayed with our friends Bruce and Barbara, who’d invited us to their awesome home exchange on the ocean, but we’d already paid for our place in the city center and we chose to use it. Mistakes were made, regrets were had.)

But food? Sure, we like eating. But we could live on a jar of peanut butter and a bag of carrots for days before we’d spend $50+ USD on a restaurant meal. And we rarely buy food ashore if we’re on a cruise. We eat almost exclusively onboard, unless there’s a special situation. We’ve already paid for those meals! It literally goes against our inner whatever to indulge (much) in local delicacies for the sake of tasting things, because food is just not that important to us.

We also no longer buy alcohol, and we don’t get the drink package on ships. If someone wants to give us free drinks, great! Happy to imbibe, Captain. If not, we’re content with complementary beverages.

Our lack of enthusiasm for food and beverage is tragic—we know. This is just the way we are now (though we used to spend quite a lot on dining in our previous lives as hard-working non-nomads).

And we try to avoid paying for coffee or tea while we’re out, so we almost never go to coffee shops. The other day my lovely daughter bought me a $5.50 latte and I still annoyingly think about what she could’ve done with that money instead. (Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it immensely).

But give me an opportunity to upgrade to business class on a long-haul flight for less than $800 and I will fight you for that seat.

Is that odd?

There’s some sort of logic to this strange imbalance in my mind, I suppose. If I frame it as refraining from buying a daily $5 coffee, which many people do (no judgment, I’m the weirdo here), does that justify three $600 business class upgrades per year?

Let’s do the math.

$5 x 365 = $1825 in coffee —→ $600 x 3 = $1800 in business class upgrades.

In my twisted brain, this seems like a great exchange. It also gives me permission to sacrifice restaurant meals in exchange for even more comfort in our travels.

You wanna know what other comfort item is super valuable to us?

Bed sheets.

I love the one-third of my life that is spent in bed.

I love it SO much. And I want to have soft sheets surrounding me during those luscious hours. Even if the mattress tragically isn’t great, having breathable, cooling bamboo sheets makes sleep better.

We keep a cheap car in the US, and inside the trunk live two sets of bamboo sheets, a queen and a king size. They weren’t crazy expensive—about $95 a set. We use them whenever we’re house-sitting or staying at Airbnbs in Arizona, where we visit regularly.

And you know what? The sheets sometimes make things easier when we are house-sitting, especially if we need to depart early in the morning on the day the job ends. We bring in our sheets on day one and switch out the clean ones the homeowner left on the bed for us. Then put their still-clean sheets back on for them before we leave, and toss ours in our car to be washed at our next place. No need to get up early for a last minute load of laundry.

If we’re staying abroad for a couple of weeks or more, I would definitely spring for a set of comfy sheets at an Airbnb if it means nighttime is appreciably more comfortable. When you sleep in different beds all the time, little things matter, and a comfortable bed and a good night’s sleep is super important to us.

Streaming internet on cruises. Okay, this isn’t a physical comfort item, but it’s a convenience that keeps our annoyance levels at bay. One thing cruises are notorious for is charging a ridiculous amount for streaming. Luckily we usually have plenty of on-board credit to spend, and this is the first thing we spring for. (The second thing? Massages). Whether we want to FaceTime with family or we need to do author-related Zoom calls, or we just want to watch some of our trashy comfort TV shows, we’ll spend money on this one.

The perfectly small, highly-curated wardrobe. This is slightly more important to me than Matt, but we both take our wardrobes seriously. We keep very few backup clothing items in storage these days after doing a thorough culling several months ago. About 75% of my clothes are made from either merino or alpaca wool because wool packs small, weighs little, dries fast, and doesn’t stink after many wears.

It’s a bit of a trick having items for all seasons packed in our carry-on suitcases and backpacks, including options for hiking as well as for dressy occasions, but we manage really well these days. So well, in fact, that we wrote an all-seasons packing list that goes along with our How to Become a Nomad booklet.

If I don’t feel a clothing item is working optimally, it’s gotta go. And I’m always on the lookout for multi-functional items that improve the wardrobe. Recently I bought a Heattech cashmere blend shirt from Uniqlo (mine was only $12 in Japan) that serves as a base layer, but it also doubles as a fabulous pajama shirt. It weighs almost nothing and takes up the least space of any of my shirts. It literally fits in my pocket all wadded up. I love this thing!

What other pieces comprise our current most-valuable-clothing list? (Note: we’re not getting a kickback from any of these clothing links—we just like them.)

1. I travel in these Unbound Merino Transit pants. They’ve got a deep front zipper pocket for phone and passport. The zipper pocket is my most prized feature of a pant. I can dress these up for dinner with boots and a featherweight cashmere sweater (another MVP), but they’re also great for hiking and comfortable as lounge wear. Super versatile.

2. We’re hikers, so we don’t go anywhere without a couple of Paka base layer shirts and Unbound Merino Tall shirts for Matt.

3. Matt’s comfy ABC Pants from Lululemon work great as his dress-for-dinner pants.

4. My splurge sweater looks good with everything and keeps me warm. This one lives in my backpack for cooler weather or a need to burrow and be cozy on a long flight or early morning hike. Or it pairs nicely with a skirt. It’s machine washable, durable, and will last for years.

How many dinners out in the US do I need to forego to pay for my ultra comfy splurge sweater? Unfortunately these days, not very many. I’ll take it.

How do you feel about our spending dos & don’ts and most-valued items? What are some of your own? Anything you don’t leave home without? Let us know in the comments.

Did you know?

Lisa’s New York Times Bestselling THE UNWANTEDS magical fantasy series has sold nearly 2.5 million copies and won multiple state awards. Kirkus Reviews dubbed it “The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter.” Try book one, The Unwanteds, in hardcover, paperback, e-book, or audiobook.

Thinking of Transitioning to Nomad Life?

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to the questions holding you back from making the leap.

“Curious about nomading but not sure how to begin? This is how! Matt and Lisa have written a clear, engaging guide that helps demystify the phenomenon and answer all the practical questions that the influencers don’t tell you because they’re too busy posting pictures of themselves working on their laptop on some beach. I wish this had existed nine years ago when I started nomading.”

Brent Hartinger, Brent and Michael Are Going Places

Read more

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

My jaw literally fell open.

Upon entering the cloud forest at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, we were met by two huge brontosauruses, their necks rearing majestically above the foliage. John Williams’ swelling Jurassic Park movie score mingled with the rush of a towering waterfall that flanked our saurian greeters.

Gardens by the Bay is a massive park just a short taxi ride from the Singapore Cruise Centre. It’s dedicated to the preservation and display of plant life from around the world. There are various zones you can explore, and the cloud forest is built around an exhibition called Jurassic World: The Experience. (There’s also an evening light show, which we did not attend, but we heard it was cool.)

The lush indoor space is overflowing with an astonishing variety of statues, trees, and vegetation.

The various levels showcase dinosaurs from the movies, a number of them with realistic animatronic movement, including a life-size roaring T-rex.

As a dino fan since I was a kid (triceratops was always my favorite), wandering this exhibit took me to my child-like happy place.

From Gardens by the Bay, we walked to the architectural icon that is the Marina Sands Hotel. This unique building was notably featured in the charming movie Crazy Rich Asians. We had planned to take in the view from the top deck, but fell into a lovely conversation with a British couple in the lobby coffee shop instead.

Leaving the hotel, we walked to the pick-up spot for the Hop On Hop Off bus we’d purchased tickets for online. We waited as the advertised time came and went. And waited. And waited some more.

It never came, and we gave up and started walking. Now we know why that one was half the price of its competitors—because it didn’t exist. I made the rookie mistake of being dazzled by the savings and not checking the reviews. Luckily Lisa was able to do a charge-back on our credit card a few days later and we got our money back.

We wound our way through the city toward Chinatown, careful to avoid chewing gum or jaywalking, both of which are banned in Singapore, a city-state in Southeast Asia which is often described as a benevolent dictatorship.

Subscribe now

Chinatown was a buzz of activity, a thriving cultural center four miles from the cruise port. We wandered curio shops, enjoyed the architecture, and people watched. We met a lovely shop owner who really wanted us to buy some of his breakable dishes…it was hard to have to explain that we were nomadic and didn’t buy souvenirs or home goods. We felt bad and almost bought some small dipping bowls just to cheer him up. But we came to our senses and said good bye instead.

Then we headed to the number one main attraction on our list, one of the famous Hawker markets. This one featured a huge collection of small, eclectic shops stuffed into a multi-level warehouse-like building. It was cheap, gritty, and crammed with people.

Subscribe now

I’m not a fan of crowds, but the market was fascinating. Most of the people were locals, with a notable minority of tourists like us. Our destination was Hawker Chan, a stall we’d read about as being the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant in the world.

Signage is minimal at best, and we wandered aimlessly among the multiple levels until we found one that looked focused on food. But even here, there were literally hundreds of stalls.

Spying number signs at the ends of the walkways, I managed to find the stall number online, and we fought our way through the crowds to the correct location. Happily surprised to see only a few people at the order window, I stood behind them and started scanning the posted menu.

That’s when a kind older man tapped my arm with a smile and pointed to a long line of people standing behind a sign saying “Wait here until called.” Hawker market rookie mistake!

After waiting about forty minutes, we were finally called up. We placed our order for the famous chicken, with noodles for me and rice for Lisa. Clutching trays with disposable plates of food and plastic forks, we found an open spot at one of the many shared cafeteria-style tables.

The food was surprisingly modest. The flavor of the sauce was really good, but the noodles were just okay, and Lisa’s meat was cold and full of bone fragments. Someone’s almost-empty plate across the table got caught by the breeze and face-planted onto Lisa’s shirt. A Michelin star for this?

Good thing our whole Michelin dining experience cost less that $7 USD!

Tired and ready to head back to our cruise ship, we made our way to the subway station. Confession time—we’re kind of wimpy when it comes to subways in new cities. They intimidate us. But we’re trying to get better! Exposure and experience are the best teachers, so we followed our phone map to the station and looked for the correct letters.

It turned out to be surprisingly simple! Great signage in English, one of the primary languages of Singapore, and a simple tap on / tap off system with our credit cards (you tap your card on the turnstile chip reader upon entering the train area and again when you exit the terminal).

Even better, the 8-minute subway ride to the cruise port was but a fraction of the cost of our Michelin-starred meal—our credit card statement showed the cost to be a whopping 8 cents each.

Despite having heard how expensive Singapore can be, we definitely found bargains.

In the shopping mall connected to the cruise terminal, we got a good laugh from a tee-shirt shop featuring humorous direct-to-English translations from other languages.

So would we go back? Despite Lisa wearing a stranger’s food remains on her shirt, it’s a strong yes from both of us! Singapore is a clean, efficient, modern, multi-cultural city with beautiful spaces, lots to see and do, and great transportation options.

Have you ever been to Singapore? What are your thoughts? Thanks for dropping them in the comments.

Share

Leave a comment

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

Read more

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

Products and Services We Use, Love, and Recommend:

• Our favorite cruise travel agent is Sharon at Atlas Travel. Email her for a quote at sharon.sellers@atlastravel.com and tell her Lisa and Matt McMann sent you.

• Into hiking? We love LMNT electrolyte powder. Try the Raspberry Salt.

• Lisa switched from coffee to Joe’y coffee alternative with superfoods and hasn’t looked back. Get 30% off your first order using the link.

• Curious about our books? Bookshop helps authors and independent bookstores. Or check our websites: Lisa’s and Matt’s.

• Need an easy e-sim card? Get $3 off your first Airalo e-sim card

* Using these links helps support our newsletter at no additional cost to you. You may even benefit!

When visiting a new city, the natural tendency is to GO. See the sights. Do the things. Get the photos. Have the stories to tell. (Lisa wrote more on that here).

We recently spent a few days in Bali, Indonesia, and that internal “GO” pressure was strong. But our stop was immediately after a busy week in Tokyo, and right before starting an intense five country cruise of Southeast Asia.

After a year-and-a-half as nomads, we’ve learned that we need to pace ourselves, especially if we want to retain memories of the places we visit.

So we put on the brakes. Decided to relax. Enjoy our lovely (and surprisingly affordable) resort. Eat by the pool. Do some work. Wander through town to the beach.

The destination graciously matched our pace. Even the plentiful scooters gently ebbed and flowed through the streets.

No tours. No guides. No adventures. We just soaked up the Seminyak neighborhoods. Admired the color schemes. And noted and tried not to disturb or step over the many Canang Sari and other daily offerings of gratitude to the divine left on the ground in various places, which included incense, rice, brightly colored flowers, and sometimes cigarettes and money.

As our SE Asia cruise left from Bali, we met others on the ship who talked about all the things they did around Bali before embarkation. In the past, those stories would have given me serious regret, a feeling like I’d blown a wonderful opportunity.

Subscribe now

But not this time. We’re slowly learning our nomadic life lessons, and I was proud of us for applying this one.

By the time our ship docked in Singapore, we were energized and raring to go again! More on that stop later.

In the meantime, how do you balance “go go” and “slow go” when traveling? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Share

Leave a comment

Check out our new eBook How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide. We give clear, practical answers to 18 questions holding you back from making the leap.

Products and Services We Use, Love, and Recommend:

• Our favorite cruise travel agent is Sharon at Atlas Travel. Email her for a quote at sharon.sellers@atlastravel.com and tell her Lisa and Matt McMann sent you.

• Into hiking? We love LMNT electrolyte powder. Try the Raspberry Salt.

• Lisa switched from coffee to Joe’y coffee alternative with superfoods and hasn’t looked back.

• Need an easy e-sim card? Get $3 off your first Airalo e-sim card.

* Using these links helps support our newsletter at no additional cost to you. You may even benefit!

Read more

We get it. You see the photos, read the stories, and are swept away by the dream of being a nomad, traveling the world, and having adventures, all while living free from many of the obligations and responsibilities of “normal” life.

We were there too. For years. Because as glamorous as it sounds, becoming a digital or retired nomad is a BIG change. It can feel scary. Impractical. Overwhelming. Loved ones might question your life choices…which makes you question your dreams, too.

We remember those feelings well. The practical and emotional challenges of transitioning to nomadic living are still fresh in our minds.

So are the solutions. We overcame all the hurdles and are now living our digital nomad dream. Here’s some good news—it’s even better than we’d imagined! We have a deep sense of freedom, live in beautiful places, meet interesting people, connect better with loved ones, and enjoy low fixed expenses with few cleaning or maintenance responsibilities. It’s awesome!

We wrote an eBook to share our hard-won lessons and make your transition to nomad life easier. It’s not a comprehensive guide to everything you’ll ever need to know about living nomadically. That would be mind-numbing and unnecessary at the beginning. This is a short, focused collection of practical answers to the questions that keep your nomadic goal stuck in the day-dream stage.

Nomadic life is not for everyone, but if you have the opportunity and the temperament, it can be a fantastic way to live. We want to answer your questions so you can make an informed decision about whether nomadic life is right for you. If so, we can help get you from where you are to where you want to be.

THE QUESTIONS WE ANSWER:

1. What do I do with all my stuff?

2. Should I keep a vehicle?

3. What do I use as an address?

4. Where will I stay every night?

5. How far in advance should I plan my lodging?

6. What will my budget and living expenses be?

7. How will my health insurance work?

8. What about insurance for my possessions?

9. What about my doctors and dentist?

10. How much time does travel planning take?

11. Where should I go first?

12. What if things go wrong while I’m traveling?

13. What if I get seriously sick or injured?

14. Won’t I lose my relationships and sense of community as a nomad?

15. What if my partner is hesitant to become a nomad?

16. What if I don’t like being a nomad?

17. Where can I learn more about transitioning to nomad life?

18. What if I still have questions?

PRODUCT OPTIONS:

1. The How to Become a Nomad: A Beginner’s Guide eBook (pdf) alone as described above ($10)

2. The Nomad Life BUNDLE ($13) - The eBook PLUS a Nomad Transition Checklist that distills the book into practical next steps PLUS our Nomad Essentials Packing List for All Seasons—clothes, footwear, tech, etc. that fit in a rollaboard suitcase and backpack

3. The Nomad Life PRO PACK ($34) - The eBook PLUS the Nomad Transition Checklist PLUS the Nomad Essentials Packing List for All Seasons PLUS a 1 year paid subscription to our nomadic life weekly newsletter Footnote: Two Nomadic Authors Hike the World (30% off the already discounted price)

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO & TO BUY

WHO ARE WE?

We’re Matt and Lisa McMann. Lisa is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty books for kids and young adults, including THE UNWANTEDS series. Matt is a USA Today bestselling author whose books include the MONSTERIOUS series. After thirty-plus years of marriage, we traded in our house and possessions for a life of travel and hiking the world. We now live in hotels, AirBnbs, on cruise ships, at pet-sitting locations, and with friends and family around the globe. We share travel stories and advice on nomadic living here in our Substack newsletter Footnote: Two Nomadic Authors Hike the World.

TESTIMONIALS:

“We met Lisa and Matt sailing the South Pacific to Bora Bora and were immediately charmed. Their observations from the road are just as funny and insightful as their in-person repartee!” Bruce Todesco (newsletter paid subscriber)

“Two amazing authors hiking the world? Sign me up!” Bill Konigsberg (newsletter paid subscriber)

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO & TO BUY

Questions? Thoughts? Hit us up in the comments! Know someone who might enjoy this? We’d appreciate you sharing this post!

Leave a comment

Share

Subscribe now

I’ve had an intensely wonderful time over the past six years writing this series about five supernatural kids who were born and raised in a thieves’ hideout on a deserted beach. When their caretaker dies, the kids enter civilization for the first time ever to search for their missing criminal parents (and the stash of cash they left behind).

Birdie, Seven, Tenner, Cabot, and Brix (and their tiny pig, Puerco) venture out into the big city of Estero, which is full of unfamiliar things like flushing toilets, traffic, money, cell phones, and pizza. Knowing it’s a dangerous place for supernatural people is even more disconcerting.

With their new supernatural allies, Lada and The Librarian, the kids fight against the oppression, and they even make a little progress towards changing the laws in Estero to allow supers like them to live freely. They also develop their supernatural abilities, growing stronger by the day.

But the president is building an army to control Estero, and it seems like the kids are always outnumbered. Even some of their parents become their sworn enemies.

In the penultimate book, Masters of Disguise, the group throws their support behind a candidate who can overtake the president and make changes for good. But after what happens on election night, which results in one of the five kids having to solve the biggest crisis they’ve ever faced alone, all seems lost.

If there’s any way to overcome the ever-increasing obstacles, the forgotten five and their friends are going to have to figure it out—and fast.

I hope you enjoy reading The Forgotten Five series. If you’re new to it, start with book 1, Map of Flames.

Now that The Forgotten Five series is finished, what am I working on in the way of children’s books?

If you’re a frequent reader here, it isn’t news to you that I’m not working on any new children’s books right now. I’ve written about my possible retirement a few times before. And I think that’s the direction I’m heading.

I’m really enjoying traveling the world and hiking with Matt, and putting a new focus on my health—something I neglected when feverishly writing two books a year for seventeen years.

We have our first grandbaby on the way, and I’m looking forward to a new phase of life as a grandparent.

And I’m writing here in this space, which gives me a great outlet for my craft.

I’m not completely disappearing from life as a children’s author, though. Matt and I are still doing in-person speaking engagements. Since we always travel together, we present as a team now, two authors for the price of one. We’ve found that we reach way more kids in the audience with our variety of books than we did individually, which is a big win for getting kids excited about reading (Matt writes shorter spooky monster mysteries vs. my longer fantasy/adventure novels). If your school or library is interested in booking us, or you’d like more information and rates, reach out to my assistant Joanne at lisa.mcmann @ gmail.com (remove the spaces).

Meanwhile, pick up a copy of The Forgotten Five: Map of Flames (book 1), or grab the whole seven-book series and dive in to this fast-paced adventure. All of my books are available in hardcover, paperback (except for book seven), audiobook, and e-book. Suitable for ages 8 and up.

You can find details about all my books on my website, lisamcmann.com.